There’s a lot that’s surprising in today’s clash between Elon Musk and the New York Times over a critical review of the Tesla Model S, Musk’s luxurious new electric sedan.

As someone who has driven the car, and liked it a great deal, I was surprised by how badly it fared during the Times test drive up I-95 from Washington, DC to New York City (it failed miserably according to author John Broder).

I was also somewhat taken aback by Musk’s response. He took to twitter and blasted the review, calling it flat-out “fake” and accusing Broder of lying about the details and length of his trip.

But what was most surprising to me was this:

@elonmusk Tesla data logging is only turned on with explicit written permission from customers, but after Top Gear BS, we always keep it on for media. (More on the Tesla-Top Gear fight.)

Why? Back in July when I first drove the Model S, I had no idea Team Tesla was watching my troll through the streets of Manhattan and on the West Side Highway.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind having trips recorded in an internal computer system—it can be helpful in diagnosing mechanical problems and with theft recovery. The real issue is that I wasn’t informed of it (I have requested confirmation from Tesla to absolutely verify this fact but have yet to receive a response).

I have never (at least to my knowledge) had that happen with another automobile manufacturer. There isn’t any word yet on whether or not Broder knew he was being monitored, or if it would have altered his drive had he known, and the data, as they say, is still out on what happened during his test drive.

I know Musk a bit from having written a long magazine profile of him and am a fan of his relentless attempts to do what people say can’t be done. But I can’t say I’m a fan of being monitored—if I was—without knowing. That violates some pretty basic tenets of fair play when reviewing cars.

Musk has said repeatedly that customer driving habits are not monitored without their explicit written consent. Journalists, it seems, are held to a different scrutiny. Don’t trust us? That’s okay. Just let us know what the ground rules are.